The Virtual Shepherd: love and screen addiction at the end of the world – Maziyar Ghiabi

The Virtual Shepherd: Love and Screen Addiction at the End of the World is a photographic and video exploration of Ali, a young shepherd in Iran’s remote 70 Peaks Valley. In the 2010s, he managed a Telegram chat with over 5,000 members, sustaining a vibrant online life he called majazi — “the virtual.” The exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the surreal intersection of rural life and digital connectivity, where the smartphone becomes a site of desire, longing, and endless scrolling. Even as platforms change, the experience of being online remains strikingly familiar

• 12 noon, a buffet lunch will be served at 12 noon in the Street Gallery
• 12.30 – official opening of Exhibition, Maziyar Ghiabi and William Gallois
• 13.00 – 13.45 Screening of the documentary film in Seminar Room 1 with a Q&A session